ABU DHABI // Frank di Wit lived up to his top billing on Day 3 of the International Judo Federation Junior World Championships. The Dutchman won the gold medal in the 81-kilogramme junior men’s event yesterday at Ipic Arena at Zayed Sports City, beating the Cadet Asian championship winner Sotaro Fujiwara of Japan.
Di Wit had trailed on points after he was penalised for holding onto his opponent’s belt for too long. However, with just over a minute left in the contest, Di Wit countered an ouchi-gari with a ko-soto-gake for a yuko score, which was enough to win the title.
In the other junior men’s final, Georgian judok Beka Gviniashvili gave himself an early birthday present by claiming the 90kg gold at the expense of top-seeded Spaniard Nikoloz Sherazadishvili
Gviniashvili, who is 20 today, got the better of Sherazadishvili with just with 43 seconds left. Gviniashvili trapped his opponent with a kami-shiho-gatame and used his massive frame to keep the pressure on for 20 seconds to earn ippon.
“I waved goodbye to everyone because this was my last time to compete as a junior. It’s my birthday tomorrow so I’ll be celebrating with my teammates tonight,” he said.
Nami Nabekura gave Japan a fifth gold at these championships. She overcame former Junior European Championship bronze medallist Diana Dzhigaros of Russia in the 63kg final while Szabina Gercsak of Hungary won the 70kg junior women’s final by defeating Remi Aoyagi to deny Japan a sixth gold.
The action shifts to the heavyweight divisions in both the junior men and junior women in today’s final day of junior competition.
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